Adnan Syed—the man whose murder trial and conviction was subject of the 2014 sensational podcast Serial—could walk free for the first time in 15 years if a Maryland court grants his lawyer's request for bail.
Syed was convicted in 2000 of murdering his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, and is currently serving a life sentence plus 30 years. In June, a Baltimore judge granted his lawyer's request for a retrial on the grounds that Syed's trial attorney had "rendered ineffective assistance when she failed to cross-examine the state's expert regarding the reliability of cell tower location evidence." Additionally, Syed's lawyers argued that "crucial alibi witness and questionable cellphone records were wrongly overlooked by his original trial lawyer."
Now, based off that argument and the otherwise lack of evidence in the trial, Syed's lawyers say he should be released on bail pending the retrial.
"Syed has now served more than 17 years in prison based on an unconstitutional conviction for a crime he did not commit," the filing said. "He has no history of violence other than the state's allegations in this case, and if released, he would pose no danger to the community."
While motions for bail are typically ignored, Maryland's attorney general office could make an exception in this case, according to lawyers.
"Usually, there's not a response," Syed's lawyer told The New York Times. "But this is not the normal case, so who knows."
Matt Miller is a Brooklyn-based culture/lifestyle writer and music critic whose work has appeared in Esquire, Forbes, The Denver Post, and documentaries.
